On Monday Unilever announced that since 2008 it has reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in its manufacturing and logistics operations by more than a million tons while also increasing sales by more than a quarter.
The milestone comes as part of the company’s Sustainable Living Plan, a 10-year initiative aimed at reducing environmental impact, improving health and well-being and promoting responsible supply chains. Much of the emissions reductions Unilever achieved came from improving manufacturing activities while also making logistic operations more efficient.
“Eco-efficiency isn’t just about reducing the environmental footprint — it also makes good business sense,” said John Maguire, Unilever’s Group Manufacturing Sustainability Director. “Since 2008 our eco-efficiency programs have avoided more than €300 million of costs. Almost €100 million in energy; €186 million in materials; €17 million in water; and €10 million in waste disposal. The benefits are very clear in a world where energy prices are increasing.”
Unilever says it plans to reduce overall energy use by improving the eco-efficiency of everything it does in its factories, offices and other operations. For instance, 100 percent of the electricity the company buys in Europe and North America comes from renewable sources.
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The company now employs 30 biomass boilers across its operations both to cut waste and supply seven percent of its renewable energy. Unilever also built the UltraLogistik control tower in Katowice, Poland, which reduces GHG emissions by enabling more efficient coordination of thousands of transport movements across road, rail, sea and air.
To improve operation efficiency and decrease travel distance, Unilever is creating regional distribution hubs, which helped the company win a Marco Polo Grant of €5.7million to invest and develop sustainable transport of goods across Europe.
Unilever recently announced it now sustainably sources more than a third of its agricultural raw materials. In March, the company launched a new soup in France that was the first to publicize a key ingredient as sustainably sourced.
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Founder & Principal Consultant, Hower Impact
Mike Hower is the founder of Hower Impact — a boutique consultancy delivering best-in-class strategic communication advisory and support for corporate sustainability, ESG and climate tech.
Published Apr 16, 2013 4am EDT / 1am PDT / 9am BST / 10am CEST